Last PDay a bunch of missionaries from our zone went to the center to play soccer on this indoor court near the LZ's house. It was awesome, we played for like two hours, and everything was dandy, except that I wasn't aware of how painful turf actually is when you slide on it. It seemed really soft walking on it, but when I slid to try and keep Elder Tolotti from scoring, I'm pretty sure I left the other half of my leg on the ground. Taking a shower in the days following was brutal, and it's still all scabbed up and nasty. I have pictures, but out of respect for Mom, I will refrain from sending them. On the plus side, Tolotti didn't score.
After the game we went to get the bus home and ended up waiting at the bus stop for over an hour. Every bus that passed going back to our area was packed with people. Literally, so packed that there were people smushed up against the doors and windows like human sardines. I was surprised they didn't pop out.
Eventually a white VW Van passed by and the guys called for anyone going to Bairro Nacional (our area), so we got in. Then more people got in behind us. Then more still until they could fit no more. We were no better off than the sardines on the buses, except it had more of a "Mexican-fleeing-to-the-

border" feel to it.
On Saturday night, we saw the first torrential downpour that this town has seen in several months. And of course, when it rains, it RAINS. We were lucky enough to be waiting in the church for a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader when it happened, so we just waited it out there. Elder Frost and Elder Tiago however, were not so lucky. They got stuck in the rain, which was so hard that it destroyed both of the umbrellas that they had and ruined all of their books, scriptures, DVDs, other teaching materials... They went straight home to dry off, and when they got there saw that the wind had blown all of Elder Tolotti's clothes that he had left out to dry that morning off of the line and into the street, our neighbors yard, etc. so we had to go home and gather them up.
Some of his clothes had been blown into a corner of the little walkway we have outside (we live on the third floor), blocking the drainage pipe and causing this sort of dirty rain water pool effect (pictures included).
And of course the highlight of the week was walking down the street conversing normally with Elder Tolotti, him stopping suddenly and with fear in his eyes saying "I had a brown day." Meaning that we had to go back to the house so that he could take a shower and get cleaned up. Luckily, this hasn't happened to me yet. I figure if I can make it nine months without a problem, what's 15 more? Keep those prayers going.
We're teaching the girlfriend of this kid in our ward, whose name is Fernanda. She's only 15 but she's really receptive, and has already been to church a bunch of times. She should be baptized this Sunday after Stake Conference.
Last night we met her dad, who is Buddhist. I think he's the first non-Christian that I've met in this country. We talked to him for about half an hour about Buddhism, but he's only been Buddhist for four years so he didn't know much about the history or origins. He did know his daily prayers, though and recites them quite well.
That's all for this week.
Love and miss you all,
Elder Sisco


The pictures are of Elder Tolotti (my companion) pulling his clothes out of the pool of water on our walkway, and Elder Tiago (Frost's companion, who also happens to be the son [as in, was trained by] Elder Franklin), using one of the destroyed umbrellas to fill up the tanquina to do laundry(we've graduated from using the two blender jugs. This way seems to be more efficient).